Richard Rominger

Farmer, former Secretary, CDFA, former Deputy Secretary, USDA

Richard Rominger is a fourth generation Yolo County, Calif farmer, and is active in farm organizations and cooperatives. He served six years as Director (Secretary) of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and was the Deputy Secretary at the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC for eight years. Improving farm policy, including conservation programs, and establishing the National Organic Standards, were among his responsibilities. He served as a production agriculture advisor at UC Davis, UC Riverside, California State University Fresno, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and continues to serve as a special advisor to the Chancellor at UC Davis. He is chairman of Marrone Organic Innovations, a biopesticide company, is a member of the UC President's Advisory Commission on Agriculture and natural Resources, and the California Roundtable on Agriculture and the environment, and serves on the board of directors of the American Farmland Trust and Roots of Change Council. He completed a term on the UC Board of Regents.